Men do what is called a good action, as some piece of courage or charity, much as they would pay a fine in expiation of daily non-appearance on parade. Their works are done as an apology or extenuation of their living in the world. I do not wish to expiate, but to live. My life is not an apology, but a life.

He who has acquired the ability, may wait securely the occasion of making it felt and appreciated, and know that it will not loiter.

No nation has produced anything like his equal. There is no quality in the human mind, there is no class of topics, there is no region of thought, in which he has not soared or descended, and none in which he has not said the commanding word.

A friend may be nature's most magnificent creation.

Liberty is a slow fruit.

One single idea may have greater weight than all the men, animals, and machines for a century.

War disorganizes, but it is to reorganize.